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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

My happy place

It took you by surprise when you opened the door. The carpeting looked like shaggy strawberry
jello. The rest of the house was conservative and muted. But not this room.

And I was going to spend my senior year here.

I slowly walked in taking in the scents and light, then layed down on the carpet right in the middle of the empty room. It brushed against my bare legs and settled beneath me as my body sank in.

A soft breeze blew across my face and down the top of my legs from the open window.

I was spread out on the carpet like a star with my head looking straight up. I took a deep breath in and let it out slowly, my chest sinking down, as I stared at the swirls in the ceiling and looked around.

One thing was for sure. I had never seen carpet quite like this.

The
shag was so long you could grip it with your toes. I could feel the strands between my fingers as I slowly ran my hand back and forth across it.

I bet I could make a snow angel.
The thought of that made me smile and laugh.

My eyes rolled around taking it all in.

Two windows. Two closet doors. One door to the hall. Ugly wallpaper with some sort of swirly pattern. And carpet the color of a cherry pie. Good thing it was my favorite color.

I did wonder who was in this room before me. It had to be a girl because it didn't smell like stinky socks
and sweat. And no boy would have wallpaper like that.

My mind was swirling with ideas.

And then my peaceful moment was over. I heard my brother's footsteps thundering up the stairs. The moving van had arrived.

Today's TRDC prompt was to write about the color red. Without actually saying the word RED.

“Give me a memory of the color red. Do not write the word 'red' but use
words that engender the color red when you hear them. For example: a
ruby, a tomato, fire, blood." 600 words max.

Seriously, red shag carpet, that's awesome!!! I loved how happy and proud you were to claim that room, and to just be in the moment. My only concrit is that I felt a little lost in time, I wasn't sure if this was your senior year of high school and your family as a whole was moving or if they were just helping you move into a room your senior year of college.

Hi Jennifer, you're right. I reworked this so many times I left out that detail in the final edit. We moved from Texas to Connecticut in the summer of 1981 before my senior year in high school started.

I was spread out on the carpet like a star with my head looking straight up. I took a deep breath in and let it out slowly, my chest sinking down, as I stared at the swirls in the ceiling and looked around.

I'm new here to the Red Dress Club, and this has been my favorite stop so far--maybe because your writing reminds me a little of my own. No extraneous details or adjectives, just the story, ma'am.My favorite part was the moving van. That cemented where you were and what was happening.

My 3 year old likes to make snow angels in our carpet, too, so that was a great description. My only concrit would be that the image of red shag carpet didn't mesh with jello for me, maybe because the textures are so different. But nonetheless, I really liked losing myself in the moment.

Shag carpet, swirls in the ceiling....talk about a moment in time! I remember it so well. The carpet leaves you with such a nice feeling that it could be a comfort and friend to a girl who had to move for her senior year!